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MOOSE JAW — Property owner Vernon Anderson has been forced to find a new place to live after being evicted from a historic downtown building that he owned for nearly 30 years.

Anderson, 79, owned the former Morrison Blackwood Hardware Building at 134 Manitoba Street West since 1998, along with an adjacent multi-tenant retail building at 114 Manitoba Street West since 1976. However, because of a tax dispute with the City of Moose Jaw,

However, while the city has also asked the latter to quash his appeal. Three appeals judges are expected in September to hear the city’s argument to strike Anderson’s request.

City hall later sent Anderson a notice saying he had until mid-June to leave the building. If he didn’t, law enforcement agents would remove him and he would have to recover his belongings afterward.

On eviction day, Anderson’s personal effects were piled up at the building’s back entrance, with a family member watching over them as Anderson shuttled his possessions to another venue on South Hill.

“This building is just fantastic inside. There’s great big beams in there … . Huge,” said the family member, who asked not to be identified. “It’ll stand for another 300 years.”

Three deputy sheriffs from the Ministry of Justice’s Office of Residential Tenancies (ORT) were present to enforce the eviction and post another notice prohibiting Anderson from re-entering. Also, a city employee was present to close the building.

“(I’m) pissed off. I just can’t believe it,” said Anderson after returning from his delivery, noting he hadn’t slept leading up to the eviction and was “wore out.”

“I just want to have a good snort of rye and go to sleep for three days,” he remarked.

Continuing, Anderson said removing his belongings “burns my ass right up,” while he thought it was better to continue living in the building to protect it from vandals. He noted that thieves had broken into another building he owns on South Hill and stolen $3,000 worth of copper.

“I guess I’m homeless now,” he grumbled, adding he’ll either sleep on the floor of that South Hill building or live in his car.

In an email to MooseJawToday.com, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice said the Office of Residential Tenancies could not comment on specific properties or individual cases, although in this case, the Office of Rental Tenancies did not issue the writ of possession.

Meanwhile, in general, she said the role of sheriffs when executing a writ of possession is “to remove a person or persons from a property and put the property into the possession of the legal entity” as the Court of King’s Bench has authorized.

In another email, a city spokeswoman said the municipality has been the registered owner of the property since Dec. 3, 2021. She added that the organization’s attempts to resolve the matter since then had been unsuccessful, so it asked the provincial sheriff’s office to enforce the writ of possession that the King’s Bench justice granted in February.

While speaking with MooseJawToday.com, Anderson showed numerous documents he had collected about this issue since 2017. That year, the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency (SAMA) reassessed his property, which increased the value from $542,300 to $1,724,100.

Continuing, he said he had contacted many people and entities since then, including a city tax collector, city council, the Saskatchewan Municipal Board, the city solicitor/director of legislative and enforcement services, and former city manager Jim Puffalt. However, he said most of them didn’t care, while others — such as the city councillors to whom he wrote — allegedly didn’t respond.

“I am not a tax dodger. This is my property. And I have paid my taxes,” said Anderson, who paid $155,737.76 in outstanding taxes in January 2022, although the municipality rejected it since it had taken possession of the property the month before.

Anderson added that he is looking for a lawyer to support his appeal, but has been unsuccessful since no one from Moose Jaw wants to become involved.